A Picture's Worth A Thousand Hints
by XxBloodsbanexX
Summary: Not sure how to summerise this - it was pretty spontaneous. Basically, Kuki's stuck babysitting Mushi and the younger sibling forces Kuki to play with her. Shenanigans ensue. Rated T, might become M if I add another part. Currently a One-shot.


**Hallo there. I've been wanting to write another Kuki/Wally one-shot, and I got this idea in my head, so why not? It's a little weird... But I like it, for the most part. **

**Mmm. I smell brownies. Go ahead and read - I'll meet you back at the end. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Kuki Sanban was trying very hard to ignore her younger sister, but it wasn't working.

"Mushi, can you please settle down? I'm trying to study."

The purple-clad eleven-year-old ignored her older sister and instead turned the volume on the television up louder. She continued playing _Rainbow Monkey Adventure 3,_ ignoring Kuki as the Japanese girl groaned and slammed her head onto the desk.

Kuki hated math, and she hated babysitting, and she hated having to stay at the base while everyone else of Sector Z had gone out on a mission. Kuki had been ordered by Numbuh 1 to stay at the base in case of a sneak attack while they were away. It wasn't a precaution that they'd been forced to take back in the KND, but things were a bit different working in the TND. Their teenage rivals were notorious for breaking in while the team was out and trashing the place.

The reason Kuki had been stuck with the duty was simple enough - her parents were gone for the rest of that day and she'd been ordered to babysit her younger sister Mushi. The sixteen-year-old Asian was used to the task by now, but because of her order to watch after the base as well, she'd had to drag Mushi along. Needless to say the younger girl wasn't pleased about it.

It was unusual for anyone outside of the TND to know about it, but Moonbase had made a special exception for the siblings of Sector V. Abigail's sister was part of the enemy, so Cree already knew; Tommy was simply too nosy for his own good and had found out about his brother and the TND all on his own; Wallabee's little brother Joey was joining the KND and was informed of his Wally's TND status after a mission ended with the young Australian getting kidnapped and held hostage by one of their teenage enemies.

Mushi, however, was a completely different case altogether. No one had actually wanted her to know about the TND - everyone, including Kuki, expected her to either keep out of things or join the Teen Ninjas. She definitely had the attitude for it, most of the time, but Kuki knew that deep down Mushi didn't truly care for things like that. Sure, she had her mind set on ruling the world as a child, but such ambitions had toned down for the most part. Instead of conquering the world through fighting against children and teens, she decided to wait until she was older and dominate the business world, like their parents.

Kuki glanced over her shoulder at Mushi. The younger sibling was still playing, and Kuki could hear the cheery hurray's and good jobs of the game as she completed each mini-level. Kuki knew she wasn't one to talk, but wasn't she a bit _too_ old for games like that? Maybe she was playing it just to get on her nerves.

Sighing, Kuki went back to her math homework. When she was in the middle of trying to remember radicals, a button flashed to her left. Kuki jumped, hurriedly taking a headset from her right and pushing the button. A few seconds later, Numbuh 4's face showed up on the screen before her. He was fiddling with the microphone of his own headset, but an explosion in the background unseated him, sending the blond off of his chair. Kuki saw that Numbuh 5 was flying in the background, and Numbuh 2 was carrying a handful of what looked like wi-fi cannons **(1).**

"Wally? Numbuh 4, are you alright?"

Numbuh 4 pulled himself off of the ground and gave Kuki a shaky grin. His hair was disheveled and Kuki though his hood looked slightly burned, but he was perfectly fine otherwise. "Yeah, just wanted to check up on you. Numbuh 1 says we'll be back late, though."

Kuki didn't show her disappointment; rather, she gave her friend a large grin and said, "That's fine, just try to hurry!" She leaned in and whispered, "Mushi's driving me crazy!"

"I heard you~!"

Kuki winced and Wally laughed. He lifted his shaggy bangs so that Kuki could see his bright green eyes. She guessed that there'd been some hand-to-hand combat involved on their mission, because he only ever looked _this_ happy after winning a good fist-fight. "Don't worry 'bout it, Kooks. I'll knock a few extra Nin's unconscious just for you. Aw crud!"

Another crash, but this time Wally held himself firm against the control pad. Numbuh 2, however, was seen rolling around on the floor, arms flailing like a fish as the ship tilted. "Gotta go! See ya soon, Numbuh 3!"

Kuki waved as Numbuh 4 ended their transmission. Taking off her headset, she sighed deeply again. Great, now she had to wait _even longer._ At least her parents would be getting home on time...

"Ehem."

Kuki squealed, jumping out of her chair and falling onto the floor. Mushi giggled evilly at her older sister's reaction. Kuki frowned, angrily pulling herself onto her feet. "What is it, Mushi?"

"I'm bored," the child said innocently. She gestured toward the game system. "I don't wanna play Rainbow Monkey Adventure anymore. I want you to play something with me!"

Kuki groaned. She glanced down at her half-finished math homework. "Mushi, I'm not done with my homework yet. Can't we play later?"

Mushi crossed her arms. She still wore her old purple shirt, though the sleeves didn't devour her hands as they once did. She'd thrown her backpack by the entrance of the base, had kicked her shoes off, and her hair, now a bit longer than before, still hung in the yellow burettes as they had for the last six years. Mushi had gained a few inches and was about Kuki's height when she was that age. Kuki herself had grown as well and towered over her little sister. Unlike Kuki, who'd changed her style to shorts, Mushi still wore the black leggings.

The younger glared up at her older sister. "No. Play with me. Now."

Kuki sighed. "But Mushi-"

"Listen," said Mushi. "I could be out with Sandy-Pandy~ right now, but no, _you_ wanted to babysit me _underground."_

"I already said I was sorry!"

"Well sorry ain't good enough, sister!" Mushi pushed out a hip and settled one hand on it, giving Kuki a practiced diva look. "Now, are you going to play~ with me or not?"

It was strange how a girl Mushi's age could still pull of that sinisterly-sugar-sweet voice. Kuki sighed, grabbed her math homework and headed for her bedroom. "Alright, okay. I'll play with you."

"Yay!"

"Let me put my things away first."

Kuki stored her work away in a folder and into her backpack. As she exited her bedroom, she was suddenly blinded with a flash of white light. Kuki gasped, blinking, then peeked around her arm to see what had blinded her.

"We're going to play fashion!" Mushi said, pulling the camera away from her face and smiling sweetly. Kuki rolled her eyes but smiled. She didn't tell anyone, but she still liked playing a lot of immature games. Playing dress-up and doing a show was one of them. It was one of the only things that kept her and Mushi from clawing out each other's throats. "Okie dokie. Whaddya wanna do first?"

Mushi pointed to herself. "_I_ will be the photographer; _you_ are going to be my model."

Kuki led Mushi into the living room. Sitting down on the floor, she asked, "And how do you want to play?"

Kuki and Mushi had a tradition; whenever they played dress-up, they would do it in a different way each time. Sometimes they'd race each other, seeing who could make the cutest outfits out of what they had in their closet, and sometimes they'd rate each other on outfits. This time, it seemed, Mushi had a different idea. "I want you go to around the base and wear everyone else's outfits."

Kuki tilted her head. "Huh? Why? I don't think I can do that, Mushi."

"Well why not? They're your friends, aren't they? They won't mind if you wear some of their clothes."

Kuki scratched her head. "Well... I guess."

"Good! Now... you have five minutes!"

Mushi pulled a timer from literally nowhere, and Kuki jumped, instantly in game mode. Clothes. Clothes. Who to raid first?

Numbuh 5's room was closest. Kuki dashed to her best friend's bedroom and cautiously opened the door.

Numbuh 5's room was a lot like it had been in the KND. She had a round red couch in the center, with coffee tables and lava lamps decorating the area before her TV. Her bed was settled against the left wall, and the rest of the room was, for the most part, barren.

Kuki spotted her dresser and quickly filed through the drawers, pulling out the first garments she saw.

Abigail was used to wearing stretchy work-out pants and sports shirts along with her red cap, much like her childhood wardrobe. Kuki ended up grabbing a pair of fitting white track pants with black streaks on the sides and a light blue sweater. The sweater showed her midriff, and Kuki didn't know if she was comfortable wearing it. However, she was running out of time, so the Japanese girl accepted what she'd gotten and, carefully grabbing one of Abby's newer caps, ran into the nearest bathroom and changed.

When Kuki re-entered the living room, she was dressed in Abby's clothes.

"Aw, so cute~" Mushi said, kicking out her legs and smiling. Kuki blushed, then asked, "So, walkway or posing?"

"Hm... Walkway would be best," said the purple-wearing sibling. "Pull your hair back - it'll work better."

Kuki did as she was told; pulling a scrunchy out of a nearby drawer, she did a quick walkway show for Mushi. The younger sibling was a very convincing photographer, telling Kuki to 'give her some pout' or that 'the camera loves you, darling!'. Throwing some jokes around, it wasn't long before the two of them were reduced to giggles. There were times when Kuki couldn't stand her little sister, but every once in a while she was reminded how much she enjoyed her company (when she wasn't being all conniving and sneaky).

Once the walkway was done, however, Mushi became serious again. As she re-set her timer, she said, "Alright; go put the clothes away, then come back."

Kuki did as she was told. When she returned, Mushi was sitting on the couch again, thumb on the timer. "Okay, four minutes this time? Ready~? Go!"

Numbuh 3 hurried towards the hallway, then mentally hesitated. Mushi had reduced the time by one minute - that meant by the time she got to the final round, she'd only have two minutes to get changed and back out into the living room. Going to Numbuh 5's room first was a mistake, she realized. She would have to go to Numbuh 2's room first, which was upstairs, and save the other two rooms for later, when she would have even less time.

Kuki dashed upstairs and into Numbuh 2's room quickly, but paused once inside. Numbuh 2's room wasn't so much a room as it was his work area - there was a bed, but it was covered with crumbled up food wrappers, discarded blueprints and pieces of 2x4 technology that he either had to repair or was in the middle of inventing. The rest of the room wasn't very different. Made completely out of wood, it gave off a dusty, wood-shoppy kind of smell as well as a soft red glow that Numbuh 3 enjoyed.

Remembering that she was being timed, Kuki hurriedly scavenged around until she found clothes. Hoagie was a stickler for his old brown pants and blue shirts, but more often than not Numbuh 2 would end up wearing loose overalls and wife beaters. Kuki found these quickly enough, but had to grab an old jacket so she could use it as a belt - the overalls didn't fit. Stumbling out of into the living room a few seconds before time was up, Kuki attempted to straighten the oil-stained material.

Mushi loved the outfit and chose for Kuki to pose this time. Thus led to Numbuh 3 settling into various poses with a screwdriver and a hammer, pretending to fix up parts of the tree house. At one point Mushi 'accidently' set Numbuh 2's jacket on fire and took pictures of Kuki running around screaming. If the pictures hadn't turned out so hilarious Numbuh 3 might have strangled her.

Putting the clothes away, Kuki waited for Mushi to send her off. She ended up in Numbuh 1's room the third round. Numbuh 1 had managed to keep his bedroom strictly set on a need-to-have status, meaning that anything he didn't need got trashed or was at his own house. Therefore, it was almost completely bare. The floor was hard wood, and the only furniture that Kuki could see was his bed, a dresser, a desk, a chair; the door leading to a private bathroom was settled just beyond the dresser.

Kuki managed to find Numbuh 1's usual form of dress and nothing else (mercifully no rainbow monkey underwear had been found during her rummaging). Numbuh 1 wore basically what he'd worn in the TND with only one or two adjustments - instead of a baggy red shirt he wore a long sleeved, skin-tight muscle shirt of the same color; Numbuh 1 still didn't like wearing jeans and had kept his old grey shorts.

Grabbing a pair of Numbuh 1's glasses (he was going to find out later, but oh well), Kuki rushed back out just as Mushi was calling time. The younger Asian found it hilarious that Kuki could pull off Numbuh 1's look - though she did point out that the shirt _was_ a bit tight for a female of Kuki's... size, which made the girl blush - and somehow convinced Kuki that taking sexy poses would make it funnier. It did. By the time they were finished, neither one of them could contain themselves and were reduced to pained giggles on the floor.

"We have to show these to your friends when they get back!"

Kuki pushed herself up from the floor and tried to calm her laughter. Her ribs felt like they were on fire. "I - I d-don't think so, M-Mushi."

"Huh?" The purple-clad sibling stood, crossing her arms. "Well why not?"

"Just because it would be weird," Kuki told her. "I mean, sure, it's been funny for us, but this is just a game - I mean, you can develop them and take them home, but I'd rather no one here see them."

"But-"

"C'mon Mushi," Kuki said, her voice just slightly pleading. "Let me win this one argument. I really don't want them to see."

Mushi was angry, Kuki could tell, but the little girl only sighed in exasperation, rolling her eyes and dismissing Kuki. "You have two minutes for your final round. Don't be too slow~!"

Smiling, pecking her little sister as she went by, Kuki made her way down the hallway once more and straight into Wallabee's room. As she threw open the door, she assessed his room in silence. Bed. Video game systems stacked up in the far left, with a television and discarded plates and cups; for the most part Wally managed to keep his room clean. Kuki skipped over to Numbuh 4's closet far to the right - she would grab one of his orange jackets, a pair of baggy jeans (his wardrobe, unlike the others, was pretty much unchanged), and then finish the game with Mushi and hopefully keep the little girl quiet for the rest of the day.

The plan sounded easy, in theory, but when Kuki realized that every inch of Numbuh 4's closet was empty, she realized that she might have to re-think things a bit.

Kuki scanned the room frantically, looking for any kind of basket that might have clean clothes in it. She was disappointed, and another glance at the closet confirmed it. It was then that Kuki remembered, with sudden embarrassed clarity, that _she'd_ been the one nagging Numbuh 4 to put his mound of dirty clothes away that morning. He must have just taken everything out of his closet.

Kuki was already heading back for the door, anxiously wondering how she'd explain her failure to Mushi, when she spotted a dot of orange poking out from under the bed. Quickly she dived for it, pulling it out and sniffing it. It smelled clean (or at least, not drenched in man-sweat).

"Kuki! Kuki!"

Numbuh 3 flinched - throwing the cloth onto the bed, she hurriedly stripped off her shirt and pants, then pulled the orange material over her head. She was surprised to find it was a slightly tight squeeze, and once it was on her she realized that it wasn't very long either. Kuki assessed what she'd just put on and fought a horrid blush.

Mushi walked into the room.

"Kuki, you're times up~!"

The little girl blinked, staring.

"Um... Kuki, what is that?"

Kuki was standing there, blushing - she'd thrown on one of Numbuh 4's old, small, shredded orange jackets. The hem was frayed and torn, and the sleeves had been ripped off. All that was left intact were the hood and pockets, and those didn't help to hide her clearly exposed legs and arms. If she wasn't pulling the hem down as far as she possibly could, her underwear would have been visible.

Needless to say, it was all very, very embarrassing.

Surprisingly (and unfortunately), Mushi didn't seem to take it as such a bad thing.

"Wow! Kuki, you look sexy! Like, _really_ sexy, for once!"

"Mushi!"

"No, I mean~ it!" Mushi skipped over, inspecting Kuki's wardrobe - or lack thereof - and ignoring the older sibling as she attempted to cover herself up. "Ooooh, I want you to pose in this!"

"Mushi, I'm _not_ going to let you take pictures of me in this!" Kuki crossed her arms, settling down on the bed and crossing her legs. "It's too revealing!"

"_C'mon!"_ Mushi wined, crossing her own arms. "You said I could, and I'm not going to show anyone your pictures. Lemme take some!"

Kuki tried to keep a steady face, but Mushi's persistence eventually made the girl sigh. "_Fine._ Fine. You can take a few pictures..."

"It'll be fun~" Mushi insisted, taking a few steps back. "Alright, now just pose _exactly_ like I tell you to..."

* * *

Two days later, Kuki got an e-mail.

She was sitting in the living room, working on her laptop. Numbuh 4 was sitting next to her, watching some kind of wrestling match. Numbuh 2 had been in here a little while ago but left when Numbuh 5 asked him to fix something downstairs. Kuki didn't know where Numbuh 1 was - probably working or talking to Moonbase, trying to get another mission.

The mission had gone well two days ago, and the team had arrived just after Kuki had finished cleaning. She made sure to hide all evidence she'd been in any of their rooms, and was back in her own shirt and shorts when the four of her friends came through the door. As she'd expected, all of them were a bit flustered and burned slightly at the edges, but were otherwise fine. They'd brought down the enemy and were doing fine.

It might be important to note that Numbuh 4 was in a bad mood the day after. He'd been so happy when they'd arrived, gloating about how many Teen Nin's he'd fought with and won against, but the day after he seemed upset about something. Numbuh 3 had no idea what it could be, but apparently he was trying to drown it out with wrestling.

Kuki sighed, glancing over at her Australian friend. He was sitting slouched against the couch, arms crossed and feet spread out. He didn't even look very interested, which was unusual behavior in itself. Kuki just hoped he cheered up soon; it was a pain when he was angry, but it made her feel sad too.

The e-mail pulsated on a small icon on Kuki's toolbar, and the oriental female clicked on the link. She saw it was an e-mail from Mushi, and when she opened it a small message popped up.

_Just so you know, I had my fingers crossed._

Kuki tilted her head, then heard the doorbell ring. She started for the door, but Wally was already storming over, and ripped the door off its hinges. "What? …Hello?"

There was a manila envelope sitting at the foot of the stairs that led above ground. Wally looked at it curiously before picking it up. Closing the door, he opened it, and shaking it upside-down, a thick stack of photographs slid into his hand. Kuki squeaked, quickly setting her laptop aside and stood, making her way towards Wally.

"What?"

"Oh, that's probably for me," Kuki said nervously, reading for the photos that Numbuh 4 held. The blond, however, was already inspecting the first of the stack and pulled it out of her grasp. Kuki ended up jumping, holding his shoulder and trying to propel herself high enough to take the pictures out of his outstretched hand, but Numbuh 4 had grown a lot since they were ten and easily kept Kuki away. Eventually the raven-haired teen gave up, crossing her arms and glaring down at the floor as she tried to pretend she wasn't blushing.

Wally was silent as he flipped through the pictures, his expression tight and curious. Kuki watched him from the corner of her eye, her blush still glowing. Eventually Wallabee reached the last few pictures, and Kuki was surprised to see him react. He pulled the pictures closer to his face; Kuki couldn't see his eyes behind his bangs, but if the pink ting on his cheeks was any hint, she could guess what he was looking at.

Quietly and slowly, Wally handed Kuki the pictures; he kept the last five in his hand. Then, before she could explain anything, he tucked them into his jacket pocket and walked out of the living room.

Kuki stood there, scanning through the stack of photos and found that her guess had been correct.

A few minutes later, when Numbuh 1 walked in, she was still standing motionless by the door.

"Numbuh 3? Numbuh 3, are you alright? Why is your entire body red? Did you get sunburned or something?"

* * *

**_(1)_ - Wi-fi Cannons: A kind of 2x4 tech that Numbah 2 invented upon joining the TND. Unlike the TND and KND, who communicate with each other via satellite, the Teen Ninjas and other teenage enemies use the internet as form of giving and receiving information during operations. Wi-fi cannons are small, handheld weapons that send out a small ball of electrical pulses, which discharge once hitting something electronic and instantly attack the web connection, thereby killing the internet and all forms of electrical communication.**

* * *

**Mmm. Did you enjoy it? The only reason I wrote this was because I got the image of Kuki in the ripped up jacket stuck in my head and simply _had _to find a reason to write about it. I went through a few fic ideas before settling on this one, and it was pretty spontaneous, so I'm still not so sure about it. I might re-write it, unless enough of you think it's fine. I might write a part two... I want some cuddling, maybe a bit of... seduction? **

**Mmmm, but then I'd have to raise the rating... **

**Well, we'll see, won't we my lovely reviewers? **

**The button is right down there...**

***slowly bites into brownie* **


End file.
